Written by Jennifer O. Cuaycong
Title: Crayola Scoot
Developer: Climax Studios
Publisher: Outright Games
Price: $39.99
Genre: Action, Sports, Racing, Arcade
Also Available On: PS4, Steam, XB1
In the past two years alone, Crayola, a household name for crayons and other related art supplies, has generated newfound interest with industry crossovers (think cosmetics and nail products collaborations with Clinique, Sally Hansen, and, just this June, ASOS). Through the years, Crayola’s target market has evolved from the children who used its products to include the adults who purchased them. While its consumer base continues to expand to embrace larger demographics and older age groups, it was really just a matter of time before Crayola took a second look at how it appealed to the children of today. To engage a tech-savvy generation of kids and kids-at-heart, Crayola has returned to the video game scene with Crayola Scoot, a racing/stunt game developed and released by Outright Games.
Crayola Scoot revolves around a scooter competition among aspirants of the Color Cup, with the aim of dethroning the Scooter Legends who reign over different cities. To win, prizes and points are awarded based on performance, to wit: the amount of crayon color one splashes to cover the gaming arena, as well as the frequency, duration, and intensity of stunt tricks made with the scooter. The more color one splashes and spreads, the better. The harder, the longer, the more complex the combos of tricks, the higher the score. Progressing through the game also opens limited options for customization. Sounds pretty straightforward, right?
Wrong. Despite its seemingly simple goals, the game does require a certain level of skill and manual dexterity to go through the different stages. Played solo or on multiplayer mode of up to four players, covering 12 parks across three worlds (Crayola Color City, Enchanted Forest, and Alien Theme Park) and challenging the tough hipster Legends, Crayola Scoot is no walk in the park. This is no simple mashing of buttons to thread a series of tricks, as I’ve found out, and decisions on time constraint versus difficulty end up testing the player’s ability to make judgments on the fly. Moreover, while it starts off as easy, it gradually builds to higher levels of difficulty, pushing the player to compete not only against the other challengers, but against his/her own scores as well.
There are various modes within the game that allow the player flexibility in play and tricks creation. Color Frenzy, hands down my favorite, has you performing tricks (jumps, boosts, flips, turns, grind) while filling the area with your designated color. It is reminiscent of Splatoon’s Turf War, albeit sans shooters. Played in single player mode or in co-op teams of threes, Color Frenzy is the virtual heart of the Crayola Scoot game.
There’s also Crayon Collector, another favorite, a race with the goal of collecting five crayons to be picked up from different and separate locations to win. There isn’t a lot of stunt performance required here, which I liked; you just have to be really fast and agile with the scooter. Then, there’s Trick Run, with the mission of chaining series of stunts to create more complex combinations. SCOOT pairs you with a Legend that you’ll have to outperform in a designated arena and within a limited period of time. While I can probably “trick” with the best of the Legends, it’s the time pressure that gets me every time, ultimately. Last, but certainly not the least, there’s Splat Tag, which, as the name implies, involves tagging and splatting your opponents with color.
Crayola Scoot boasts of impeccable, crisp colors to complement the highly detailed, brightly colored graphics of the arenas, and rightly so. After all, it cannot be “Crayola” without the wonderful hues and shades of colors. To my mind, however, I find the character visuals for the Legends a little off putting, if not bizarrely drawn. What the game lacks in more appealing characters, however, it more than makes up in the fluidity of action. Jumps, spins, and turns all seem effortless and seamless — that is, until one falls over in a faulty move and lands like a broken marionette.
The gameplay of Crayola Scoot proceeds without lags or slowdowns on the Switch, and scene changes shift in unbroken sequences, a definite plus in further highlighting movement and color in the game. Then, too, the game benefits from a more than modest soundtrack — upbeat, quirky, and high on the LSS factor. Gamewise, the learning curve gets steeper with the more difficult stages as the tricks require several combinations of buttons and joy-con stick movements to perform.
It must be said that, at first glance, one immediately notices the obvious similarities to other games. Fair enough. Crayola Scoot calls to mind some well-known video game predecessors, namely, Nintendo’s Splatoon, THQ Nordic’s De Blob, Sega’s Jet Set Radio, and Activision’s Tony Hawk Pro Skater. By combining creativity (coloring, painting) with action (skating, racing, scootering), it gathers inspirations from the elements of these games to create a new take on an otherwise well-represented genre.
All in all, Crayola Scoot delivers entertainment for children and adults alike. It might not possess the longevity and replayability of other games, but there are enough ways to keep the fun going for a weekend or two. It’s certainly not a bad deal in the end.
The Good
- I loved the colors, very Crayola. <3
- The action and movements were quite good.
- The stunts were fun to perform.
- There is multiplayer mode.
- There is no action lag on the Switch.
The Bad
- It isn’t very original.
- I’m not a big fan of split screens.
- Replayability is low, unless you are OC with scores, like me.
The Ugly
- Please don’t get me started on how the Legends looked!
RATING: 7/10
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